Episode 605: Manufactured Problems

Daniel and Manton discuss the latest news with Apple and the European Union, including that Apple is withholding features such as Apple Intelligence. Will they go so far as to stop selling iPhones in the EU rather than face a large fine? Apple has become accustomed to their power in the mobile market, but have they met their match with the EU? Then, Meta’s Threads API and the difficulty of getting an app approved for Micro.blog.

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June 28, 2024 at 11:09 pm.

Episode 604: Unethical Stealing Theft Criminal Liars

Daniel and Manton talk a bit more about AI, peoples’ skepticism about its value, and their opinion that it obviously has some utility. They discuss the Perplexity AI controversy around HTTP user agents, and whether it’s an ethical requirement that all services should always reveal their identity. Daniel talks about his recent adventures with Swift Concurrency, and they weigh the challenge of tackling a major architectural change, versus the payoff from Swift’s compile-time data safety.

Links:

  • Perplexity – An AI service that combines its own model with models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and others.
  • Rabbit R1 – Tiny consumer electronics device that provides AI services based on Perplexity.
  • Perplexity AI is Lying – Robb Knight writes about Perplexity’s alleged sneakiness with respect to HTTP user agents.
  • Blocking AI Bots: – Help page on Micro.blog about how to prevent AI bots from scraping your content.
  • The Machine Stops – Post by Jeremy Keith about attempts to sabotage AI scraping bots.
  • Adopting Swift Strict Concurrency – Updated documentation from Apple about using the latest concurrency techniques.
  • Migrating to Swift 6 – An evolving document from the Swift open source team about migrating to Swift’s strict concurrency.

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June 21, 2024 at 10:27 pm.

Episode 603: Hallucinizations

Manton and Daniel compare notes after WWDC, reflecting on the thrill of catching up with old friends, albeit on turbo mode. Daniel takes a bow for guessing the Apple Intelligence name, and the two discuss the advantages to Apple of adopting it. They examine the “long runway” Apple has to perfect their AI offerings thanks to the cohesive structure of Apple Intelligence and their inclusion of outside services in the whole package. They compare the relative advantages that on-device, specialized models may have, versus the advantages of “world data” services like ChatGPT. Finally, they question how the AI naysayers will cope with a technology world where AI in some form is increasingly ubiquitous.

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June 15, 2024 at 7:04 pm.

Episode 602: I Think I Know Hot

It’s time for WWDC! Manton’s on the road as a heat wave hits the southwest and California. Will Apple’s AI announcements meet expectations? Will we finally get code completion? What other novel uses of AI could Apple surprise us with? Daniel and Manton talk all about WWDC, AI, the OpenAI partnership, and even what might happen with visionOS.

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June 7, 2024 at 3:37 pm.